


just be good to me.

by lordvoldyfarts



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 11:30:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5827012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordvoldyfarts/pseuds/lordvoldyfarts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Octavia Blake isn't allowed to date - not under big brother Bellamy's watch anyway. Sick of it, Octavia enlists the help of her best friend, Clarke, to solve her problem. Clarke offers up a solution and a whole new problem all in one - Raven Reyes.</p><p>or a 10 Things I Hate About You AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	just be good to me.

**Author's Note:**

> first chapter! be aware this chapter will appear to share nothing in common with the movie but don't worry - next chapter there will be some more recognizable elements!

She was going to kill Bellamy.

Like stick a knife in his eye kind of kill him. _Really_ make it painful so he knows she means it.

Frankly, he’s lucky she was already late to soccer practice otherwise he might be without both of his eyeballs. Or two other round things.

She walks across the quad, her hands tightly clenched in fists, her fingernails creating indents in the palms of her hands. Her face is red and she knows she probably looks like a tomato but she can’t. Calm. Down. She just keeps repeating everything Bellamy had said to her and each time it plays over in her head, it just makes her angrier.

She makes it to the soccer field with a few moments to spare. She throws her duffle bag to the ground, grinding her teeth, and collapses down in front of Clarke. Clarke looks up from her phone and raises an eyebrow. “Hey there, cherry tomato. What’s got you so ripe?” Clarke says and Octavia very pointedly ignores the jibe at her height. She’s already too angry at her brother to be angry at someone else. She’s like Tinkerbell that way, she can only fit one emotion inside of herself at a time. “Fucking Bellamy,” she grunts.

“Is he being himself again?” Clarke asks and Octavia takes a deep breath, her fists still clenched.

“Worse! You know Lincoln? The transfer from Virginia?” Octavia asks and Clarke shakes her head.

“No but continue,” she says waving a hand.

“Well we have chem lab together and he was going to walk me to practice after. But of course, Bellamy can’t leave me out of his sight for more than three seconds at a time and he was….lingering by a tree,” and at this point she cringes, thinking about the way he was just lurking underneath a tree. He could have been mistaken for a stalker. In fact, she wishes that she’d had the foresight to realize that there was no way that that interaction could have gone well and simply called ‘FIRE’. That would have gotten her out of it. Clarke is already cringing because she knows Bellamy nearly as well as Octavia does. “Apparently, Lincoln’s pledging Bell’s frat. And since he’s frat president, he gets to decide what the pledges have to do for hazing. He looked Lincoln dead in the eye and told him that if he wanted a chance in hell of being a brother, he’d stay at least twenty feet away from me at all times,” Octavia finishes and she hadn’t noticed her voice rising while she told the story but she’d attracted the attention of the entire soccer team by now. Her face flushes, if possible, even further. “He just, walked away after that. I can’t even blame him! Bellamy looked like he was going to set him on fire if he kept standing next to me!” Octavia exclaims and Clarke nods.

“You know what you have to do, don’t you?” She says seriously and Octavia raises an eyebrow. No. She really doesn’t. “You have to kill him,” Clarke deadpans. Finally, Octavia cracks a smile. Clarke’s face stays serious. “I mean it. It’s the only solution,” she continues to say seriously and then Octavia can’t take it anymore. She wraps her arms around her stomach and starts to laugh. Uncontrollably. She leans into Clarke’s shoulder, who has finally given into her own laughter. They’re just met with odd stares from the rest of their teammates who really ought to be used to this by now.

-

It was a rough practice and for that, Octavia was grateful. For the most part, she doesn’t feel like taking a meat cleaver to Bellamy’s manhood any more so that has to be a plus. She’s still sweating and she’s got one headphone in, the other hanging down leaving her ear open just in case Clarke and Lexa decide they want to engage her in conversation instead of just engaging their tongues in battle. She doesn’t quite understand it - they’d seen each other all afternoon before practice. And then Lexa watched practice, Clarke’s letterman jacket wrapped around her shoulders. Maybe that’s just what being in love does to you. Makes you never want to leave that person’s side.

She wouldn’t know. She’s never been allowed to be in love.

Finally, Clarke and Lexa pull apart and Clarke falls back to walk with Octavia. She slings an arm around her shoulder and Octavia wrinkles her nose. “You smell,” she comments and Clarke just makes a face.

“So do you,” she replies and Octavia narrows her eyes. “What are you going to do about this big brother situation of yours?” Clarke asks, changing the subject before Octavia inevitably stops on her foot. Octavia rolls her eyes.

“Become a spinster,” Octavia mumbles. She sighs. Clarke is watching Lexa’s back, that soft look back in her eyes that Octavia knows to be the look that’s reserved specifically for Lexa. “I want the chance to look at somebody like that,” Octavia says, gesturing to Clarke’s eyes. Clarke’s cheeks flush. “I just don’t understand. He sleeps with anything that breathes. Why am I not allowed to try for an actual relationship? At least my risk of STD contraction would remain significantly lower than his,” Octavia continues and Clarke laughs. “Maybe if he actually….fell for someone, he would get it. Or at least he’d be too distracted to ride my ass all the time,” Octavia muses. Clarke stops walking and because her arm is still around her, Octavia is forced to stop as well.

“Do you mean that?” Clarke says and Octavia furrows her brow.

“I mean, I guess, but he’s more allergic to commitment than he is to shellfish and I’ve seen that boy balloon because he kissed a girl that ate shrimp,” Octavia replies, remembering his swollen lips and panicked eyes. She’d laughed for at least two minutes before she drove him to the hospital, Those are some of her favorite pictures in her Blackmail Bellamy folder. She’s saving those for his wedding, if it ever happens.

“I might know someone. She’s,” Clarke pauses, “A challenge and I think that’ll keep Bellamy interested,” Clarke says and Octavia can’t believe Clarke is saying this. A girl that could keep Bellamy’s attention for more than five minutes? It’s the answer to all of her problems. If he’s focusing on her, then Octavia would be free to do whatever she wanted. Like Lincoln. It would be that simple.

“And you think she’d go for it?” Octavia asks because she doesn’t want to get her hopes up if they’re just going to get dashed. Clarke bites her lip. After a moment of consideration, she nods.

“Yeah. She’s never been one to back down from a challenge,” Clarke replies and Octavia smiles. There’s a weight lifted off of her shoulders then and she attempts so throw an arm around Clarke’s shoulder as well though she manages to hit just the base of her shoulder blades. Clarke laughs and Octavia doesn’t hesitate to step on her foot this time.

-

When she walks into the apartment that she and Bellamy share, Bellamy is waiting by the door. She puts a hand up. “No. We are not speaking,” she says and continues to walk toward her bedroom. He jumps in front of her, putting his hands on both walls, blocking her from getting into the hallway. “I resent you using your height against me,” she murmurs and Bellamy smirks. Octavia’s nostrils flare. She crosses her arms over her chest. “Fine, get it over with,” she says. He tilts his head and softens his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Octavia,” he starts and Octavia starts to smile, “for protecting you from that….frat boy imbecile,” And then Octavia’s smile falls. Of course. It wasn’t a real apology.

“Like you get to fucking talk. You’re the president of frat boy imbeciles,” Octavia exclaims.

“And I don’t want you to end up with a guy like me,” Bellamy says and Octavia’s arms fall to her sides. It’s a low blow but right now? She’s still pissed. So the self-deprecating line doesn’t get any sympathy. Instead she brings her shoulders in and slips underneath Bellamy’s arms.

“I think I should get to decide that for myself,” she says from the doorway before she slips into her room and slams the door behind her.

-

Clarke is waiting at the door of the body shop. She’d come in under the guise of a flat tire, which she knew how to change on her own, but it was the easiest thing to fake. She switches her weight from one foot to the other, starting to feel quite impatient.

Finally, from the back of the garage, comes a grease stained girl wearing a white wife beater, wiping her hands on a rag that looks as if it used to be white. Her stares hardens when she sees Clarke. “Why are you here?” She asks when she’s finally close enough. Clarke gestures toward her car.

“Flat tire,” she says and Raven narrows her eyes.

“Bullshit. I taught you how to change a tire freshman year,” Raven shoots back. “Now tell me why you’re really here?” Raven asks again. Clarke sighs.

“I need a favor,” she says and Raven shakes her head, chuckling.

“Shoulda known,” she replies, “look whatever it is, shove it up your ass. I have work to do,” Raven continues, turning around.

“You owe me,” Clarke shouts and Raven pauses. Clarke watches her shoulders rise and then fall slowly. She turns around again.

“What’s your favor?” She asks and Clarke smiles.

“You remember Bellamy?” Clarke questions and Raven nods shortly. “His little sister needs him to be distracted for a little while. He’s not one to keep his eye on one place for a long time, romantically, because his attention is usually on Octavia. She wants that to stop. I need you to be the reason it stops,” Clarke explains as best she can. Raven snorts.

“Bellamy Blake sleeps with anything that has a pulse and doesn’t say no. He’s not a challenge,” Raven mutters, pushing her back off of the wall and preparing to walk away.

“What, don’t think you can do it?” Clarke says because she _knows_ Raven can’t resist a challenge. Especially not from her. She pauses again.

“I know I can do it. It’s just not worth it. Besides, he’s not that interesting,” Raven says. Clarke bites her lip. She has an idea but if she says it….it’s risky. “What’s his sister want him out of the way so bad for?” Raven asks and Clarke is getting just a little bit tired of Raven’s stubbornness. Though, it used to be something she quite enjoyed.

“Peace and quiet?” Clarke replies and Raven seems to accept that.

“Answers still no but thanks for the visit,” Raven says, pushing off the wall again. Clarke bites her lip.

“Don’t be a coward, Reyes,” Clarke shouts at her retreating back and Raven whips around so fast with anger in her eyes that Clarke swears she might hit her. Clarke thinks she might deserve it. Instead she takes a deep breath.

“What is it exactly that you need me to do?” She asks and there’s a triumphant feeling erupting in Clarke’s stomach. She never quite forgot how good it felt to win against Raven.

“Hang out with Bellamy. Distract him on a few Friday nights so Octavia can go out. Make friends with Octavia and take her out. Make Bellamy trust you,” Clarke says nonchalantly and she watches Raven contemplate.

“What’s in it for me?” Raven says and Clarke knows she’s got her exactly where she wants her.

“Good sex? And I’ll leave you alone. You do this and it’s like we never knew each other,” Clarke says and there’s the final nail in the coffin. Raven sticks her hand out.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Griffin,” Raven says and Clarke smiles.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Reyes,” Clarke replies.

Raven walks away then, leaving Clarke to wait alone for her car.

-

“Where did you go?” Lexa asks when Clarke finally trudges through the door of Lexa’s apartment.

“The garage,” she replies. Lexa raises an eyebrow and puts a bookmark in her Austen novel. This is going to be good.

“And what exactly was it you were doing there, Clarke?” Lexa asks as Clarke flops down on the bed, rolling so she has her head in Lexa’s lap.

“Went to talk to Raven,” she mumbled, her eyes closed. Lexa sighs. She puts the book on her nightstand and takes her glasses off. She gently places her fingers on Clarke’s temples. “Feels good,” Clarke says.

“Why did you talk to Raven?” Lexa asks and she buries the feeling of jealousy bubbling up in her chest.

“Convinced her to distract Bellamy so Octavia can get some,” Clarke continues to mumble. She’s speaking in fragments and Lexa knows that she’s tired. She’d had a long day. Deciding that it’s best to spare her the lecture, at least for the present, she bounces her knee.

“Sit up, let’s go to bed,” Lexa whispers and Clarke nods, barely processing what she was saying. Lexa stands up, pulling the sheets back and immediately Clarke crawled underneath them. Lexa shuts the light and wraps her arm around Clarke’s waist as they fall asleep.

-

Octavia wakes up the next morning with a heavy feeling in her stomach and the urge to apologize to Bellamy. Damn it, she wished her ability to hold a grudge lasted just a little bit longer. Especially when it came to her brother. He’s already in the kitchen when she leaves her room, hair thrown up in a messy bun, glasses on. He’s making pancakes. He turns around and shoots Octavia a tentative smile when she comes into the kitchen. The anger in her chest has dissipated and she smiles back.

She pulls a chair out at the kitchen table and folds her legs underneath herself as she sits down. Bellamy puts a plate down in front of her and she can’t help but smile when she looks at it. Three pancakes, one larger than the other two, which sit at the top, as if to look like Mickey Mouse ears. Complete with two eyes and a bacon smile. She looks up with a grin at Bellamy, who is standing with his hands in his pockets, an apology in his eyes. “You’re forgiven,” she says, lifting her fork. “But only because of the bacon smile,” she adds, lifting her butter knife and pointing the edge at him. He pulls out the chair across from her.

“You know I’m just looking out for you,” he says and Octavia takes a deep breath. No. If he wants to stay forgiven, he really ought to stay quiet while she eats her pancakes.

“Let’s just leave it alone, okay?” Octavia says and for once, Bellamy listens to her, shutting his mouth and picking on pieces of bacon. Once she’s finished, he says,

“Hurry up and get dressed, I’ll drive you to school,” and it’s like she’s ten years old again, their mother lying on the couch, completely checked out of life, Bellamy packing her Disney princess bookbag and telling her to get ready or else they would be late.

That’s the reason she could never hate her brother, or anything he did. He took care of her when nobody else did. He was only four years older than her. He didn’t have to. He put off college to make sure she could get through high school.

So she could never hate him. Even if he was an overprotective frat boy imbecile.

-

They have practice starting at 3 and Clarke comes up to Octavia with a giant grin on her face. She throws an arm around Octavia’s shoulders. “I believe a thank you is in order,” Clarke says and Octavia raises an eyebrow.

“Thank you?” She questions and Clarke laughs.

“First, let me tell you what you’ll owe me eternal gratitude for first,” Clarke says as they sit down and start to stretch. “I found you a solution to your Bellamy problem,” Clarke announces, sounding quite proud of herself. Suddenly, a rush of memories from the evening previous come back to her. Oh. Right. _That_.

“Oh that’s really not-” but then she pauses. Just because he apologized didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it again. In fact, Octavia was sure he would do it again. The next person she got anywhere near was subject to whatever excuse Bellamy would make up as for why they needed to stay away from her. It would never end. “Never mind, what’d you do?” She switches direction and Clarke’s smile grows.

“That girl I told you about? She agreed. So if you see hot girl with light brown hair hanging around, that’s Raven and you should be nice to her. She’s your ticket to freedom,” Clarke says and Lexa, who had just come down to give Clarke a good luck kiss before practice, freezes. Clarke looks up at her, having heard the footsteps against the turf, and immediately the smile falls off her face. The hard look fades from Lexa’s face quickly as she leans down to give Clarke a kiss on the cheek. She whispers something in Clarke’s ear that makes Clarke’s face flush then she smiles.

“Have a good practice. You as well, Octavia,” Lexa says before she walks into the stands. Clarke’s face is still bright red.

“What did she say to you?” Octavia has to ask, her curiosity beating out her desire to never see her friend as a sexual being.

“Nothing you need to know about, karate kid,” Clarke says and her cheeks are still burning. Octavia wonders if they’re ever going to go back to their normal color. She hopes so. No offense to Clarke, because she’s quite beautiful, but red really doesn’t her. “Alright, up you get Champ. I think they’re ready to start,” Clarke comments, gesturing toward the middle of the field where every other player was waiting for them to stand up.

Octavia shakes her head as she follows Clarke onto the field.

-

There’s a girl leaning against Bellamy’s car, talking to him with a smirk on her face when Octavia finishes practice. Hiking her bag further up on her shoulder, she walks toward them, Finally looking up, Bellamy notices Octavia coming toward them. He lifts his hands in a wave. Octavia walks up to the pair, under Bellamy’s outstretched arm and gives him a hug. Her eyes remain on the girl leaning against the car. She’s got that light brown hair Clarke was talking about. She’s slim and she’s got a smile that looks like it could probably take down North Korea. She wears her hair in a ponytail and a leather jacket that is probably keeping her entirely too warm in the late fall California heat. She’s looking at Octavia with an appraising look that makes Octavia’s cheeks twinge pink. Octavia looks up at Bellamy, who seems completely taken by Raven. Well, score one for Clarke. Raven looks over at Octavia and clears her throat. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?” She asks Bellamy who finally looks down at Octavia who is still tucked under the crook of his arm.

“Uh, yeah. This is my baby sister, Octavia,” he says and she flinches at the use of baby.

“I’m not a baby, I’m 18 years old. Nice to meet you,” she says with a lot less enthusiasm than she’d possessed a moment ago. Raven looks her up and down once more.

“Pleasure’s mine,” she replies and there’s something in the tone of her voice that makes Octavia’s cheeks flush even harder. God, she probably looks like Clarke. She pulls away from Bellamy and moves toward the passenger door of the car.

“I really hate to break up whatever this is but I’ve got a spanish lit paper to finish writing, so if you don’t mind,” she gestures toward the car and Bellamy gives her a look and she sends back an eyeroll in reply.

“I’ll call you,” Bellamy says to Raven before moving around the car to the driver’s seat. Raven raises two fingers to her temple. She gives him a salute. She brushes Octavia as she walks past, slipping something into the palm of her hand. Octavia closes her grip on it and watches Raven walk away before she finally opens the side door and climbs in. Bellamy is already listening to part three of his Rolling Stones discography and Octavia knows she has no chance of controlling the music this ride. He’s riding too much of a high. He’s grinning, even. There’s a twinge at Octavia’s heart, knowing that this is only a play. But she knows her brother. She knows how long his attention span is. And it’s next to 0. He’ll be onto the next girl that makes him smile in less than a second and she won’t have anything worry about.

“She’s pretty,” Octavia comments, something in her curious to know what he thinks of her. Bellamy’s smile just grows.

“She walked up and started to talking to me about my car,” he says with a dumbstruck look on his face. One she hasn’t seen him have before.

Well shit.

-

The piece of paper that Raven had shoved in Octavia’s hand had turned out to be her number scribbled messily onto with a short message ‘hear i’m saving your ass - you at least owe me a thank you’. Octavia waits until after Bellamy goes to the gym to text her. There’s something about this that feels….risky. Like she shouldn’t be doing it.

She plugs the number into her phone and types a short message.

 **_Octavia:_ ** _thank you. i don’t know what clarke had to do to convince you but i owe you._

Octavia sends it before she has a chance to think about it. She throws her phone to the other side of the couch, butterflies in her stomach. As she watches the local news anchor make a sad attempt at fixing his toupe, she wonders why she’s so nervous about texting Raven. She’s the girl who’s making all of her dreams come true. She’s going to keep Bellamy’s attention long enough for Octavia to get Lincoln’s. It’s all she wanted. He’s all she wanted. So she reaches across the couch for her phone, reading Raven’s response.

 **_Raven:_ ** _don’t worry about it, kid. he’ll be out friday night. have fun._

And Octavia doesn’t bother responding to that. She hugs her phone close to her chest, kicking her feet.

Finally.

-

She lets Clarke dress her up on Friday night and she ends up looking like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Like, the beginning of Pretty Woman. The skirt is shorter than anything she’s ever had on and the shirt, well. It’s barely a shirt at all. It hugs her breasts tightly and that’s about it. Her stomach is exposed and she folds her arms over it. Clarke hits them. “You’re hot, embrace it!” She says and she’s already a little bit tipsy. Lexa had brought over a bottle of mango rum, Clarke’s favorite, to pregame with before they left.

“You sure he’s going to be there?” Octavia asks, looking at herself in the mirror again. She does look good. Clarke puts her hands on Octavia’s shoulders and puts her forehead against hers.

“He _swore_. And nobody lies to me, O. I’ve got a sixth sense for these things,” she says quite confidently and Octavia can’t help but smile. Lexa comes up behind Clarke and grabs her by the waist, pulling her against her. Clarke leans her head back against Lexa’s shoulder. Lexa shoots Octavia an amused look, one that Octavia returns.

“I think you’ve had enough for now, Clarke,” Lexa says calmly and Clarke pouts. She turns so she’s pressed forward against Lexa, her arms snaking around Lexa’s neck and Octavia’s fairly certain that she doesn’t want to see what comes next to she walks into the living room of Lexa’s apartment and sits on the couch. She figures that after they’ve had their customary makeout session, they’d finally be ready to leave.

She was right. A few minutes later, Clarke and Lexa come out of the bedroom, Lexa’s hair is slightly messy and Clarke has a self-satisfied smirk on her face. “Ready?” Octavia asks, feeling impatient. Clarke nods.

They walk to the party. It’s not far. The Sigma Tau Gamma house was just a few blocks away from Lexa’s apartment. The closer they get to the house, the quicker Octavia’s heart starts to beat. They’re on the porch and Octavia turns to Clarke once more. “Are you sure I look alright?” She says, in a rare instance, feeling insecure. Clarke brushes a few piece of stray hairs away from her face, grabs her cheeks and pulls her close. She gives her a kiss on the cheek.

“You look hot. Now go get your man,” Clarke says, turning her around and practically pushing her into the door.

It wasn’t her first frat party, not by a long shot, but it was her first unsupervised one. There’s smoke covering most of the room already. A few blinking lights make their way through the fog and Octavia squints to try and find Lincoln. He really shouldn’t be too hard to find.

And of course, he was. After ten minutes of looking, Octavia finally ended up by the tub of jungle juice, waiting for a drink. She was leaning against a wall, a few people in front of her were chatting with the frat boy in charge of the punch and she was ready to interject when in front of her was a large body and a smirk. “Jungle juice is not your best bet. Come with me, I know where they hide the beers,” and Octavia looks up to find Lincoln.

Finally.

They don’t ever manage to find quiet that night, but they do dance. A lot. The kind of dancing that would send Bellamy straight into his grave if he ever saw her doing it. She even managed to get a kiss or two in before Lexa dragged her out because Clarke had been about to start dancing on tables and Lexa really did not want to be responsible for any damage done to fraternity property.

-

She wakes up with a pounding headache and every part of her body feeling as if it were filled with sand. She walks out to the kitchen slowly, even the creaking of the floorboards too loud for her to listen to. She’s expecting to find Bellamy in the kitchen, his customary cup of black coffee in front of him, but it’s empty. Huh.

She pours herself a bowl of cereal, no desire to cook an actual breakfast, and sits at the kitchen table alone. She closes her eyes and tunes into her surroundings.

There’s nothing but silence.

And it’s nice. It’s nice being alone. She loves Bellamy but she hasn’t eaten breakfast by herself since she was 13. He was always around. She didn’t even need to wear pants.

As she finishes her cereal, not even bothering to control how loudly she’s chewing because Bellamy isn’t there to send her a sharp look when she’s ‘chewing too loudly’, she thinks that she’s glad she asked Clarke for help. Even if it did hurt her pride to do it.

-

Clarke knows she shouldn’t, but she goes to the garage the morning after the party. Lexa would kill her if she knew she was here. She knows how much it bothers her that Clarke has had any contact with her at all. But this is for Octavia. It’s not for her. It’s been years since she and Raven were anything. And Lexa’s the only one Clarke wants now. But she knows this won’t look good for her.

But she has to know. Raven’s the only one in the shop, as she always is this early in the morning. She’s working on her bike. Clarke takes a step toward it, dragging her fingers across the black metal. “You’re still working on this thing?” She says, finally announcing her presence. She hears a frustrated sigh from underneath the front fire and Raven’s head pops up.

“Clearly,” Raven says, no amusement in her eyes.”Why are you here, Griffin?” She asks, not bothering to stand up, which is fine with Clarke. She doesn’t intend on staying long.

“I want to know how last night was,” she says, picking at a piece of chipping paint. Raven’s nostrils flare.

“Do you mind not fucking up the paint job?” Raven says, pretty indignantly. Clarke shrugs.

“It’s a pretty shitty paint job,” she mumbles. Raven’s biting her lip in that way that Clarke knows to mean she’s just about ready to launch at her so she reiterates her initial question. Finally, she sits up.

“It was fine. He was easy, just like I thought,” Raven says with a smirk and Clarke’s nose wrinkles. Raven tilts her head. She pushes out her bottom lip in a mocking pout.

“Jealous?” She coos and Clarke’s grip tightens on the part of the bike she’s still touching. She shakes her head.

“Not a chance. My girlfriend fucked me into the mattress four times last night,” Clarke shoots back and Raven’s neck is flushed red.

“He was sloppy,” Raven comments. “I’m going to have to teach him a few things but I happen to know you can teach an old dog new tricks,” she says, twirling a wrench around her finger. Clarke rolls her eyes. That’s all she needed to hear. She’s ready to push off the bike when Raven continues. “Good looks run in that family, don’t they?” and it sounds innocent enough but there’s something behind it.

“Yeah, Octavia’s not exactly hard on the eyes,” Clarke replies her eyes narrowing.

“Wonder if she’s any better than her brother,” Raven comments and Clarke’s tongue darts out to lick her lips. There’s a challenge in her eyes. Still, Clarke shakes her head.

“Well, you’ll never find out,” Clarke responds and Raven cackles.

“Wanna bet?” She asks, that familiar lilt in her voice that she knows Clarke can’t resist. And she wants to. Because she has to leave Octavia out of this. It has, for all intents and purposes, nothing to do with her. But there’s a look in Raven’s eye and she’s looking at her the way she used to, whenever she’d offer a bet and it’s familiar. And goddamnit, Clarke never did like to lose.

“You won’t be able to do it,” Clarke says confidently. And Raven stands, slowly, wiping her hand on the leg that’s free from her brace, and shrugs.

“If you’re so sure, take my bet. If you really got nothing to lose,” she says and she knows Octavia won’t give into Raven. So she sticks her hand out.

“Fine. I bet you won’t be able to sleep with Octavia,” Clarke says and there’s something almost evil about the smile on Raven’s face when she reaches down and shakes Clarke’s hand, sealing the bet and putting her friendship with Octavia into limbo.

-

Raven’s sitting in the stands during soccer practice.

She’s flipping through a copy of Motor Trend when Octavia finally notices. Practice had just started and they were jogging around the field. Octavia likes to jog alone, which seemed to be a good idea today because Clarke was being especially quiet. She’s halfway through her first lap when she sees her. She’s not looking and Octavia can’t slow down but she’s fairly certain that it’s her.

The longer practice goes on, and the more Octavia looks, the more sure she is that Raven is watching her. She’s not sure why and Clarke avoids the question as if Octavia’s trying to pass her the bubonic plague.

Finally, practice ends and Raven is outside the locker room, leaning against the bricks. Her arms are crossed over her chest and when she sees Octavia, she waves her over. “No offense but why are you here?” Octavia asks and Raven laughs.

“Your brother sent me. He’s busy with the pledges and was afraid you’d kidnapped by the big bad wolf if you had to walk home alone,” Raven says, a smirk on her face. Octavia rolls her eyes. She doesn’t know why she’s surprised. There’s a flare of frustration in her and she shakes her head.

“He didn’t need to send you,” she mumbles. “I can walk,” she says and turns on her heel, beginning to walk toward the apartment. Raven laughs from behind her.

“Alright, have it your way munchkin,” Raven calls from behind her and she starts to walk. Octavia furrows her brow.

“No. You take whatever you got here in home. _I’m_ walking. You don’t have to,” Octavia says, her eyes fixing on Raven’s brace. Raven follows her eyeline and rolls her eyes.

“What, worried about this thing?” She reaches down and knocks on the metal, “It was built for this. Ready? If we start now, we’ll get there before the werewolves come out,” she says while using her hand as a visor as she looks over at the horizon. Octavia pauses. Finally, she shakes her head.

“Where’s your car?” She relents because she’s not going to force Raven to walk - and really, she didn’t want to either. It was far. Raven smiles. She gestures to a beat up convertible that looks like it’s on its last legs. Octavia glances at it.

“Are you sure it works?” She asks and Raven laughs.

“Like a charm. Got me here in one piece, didn’t it?” She counters and Octavia can’t really argue much with that. She throws her bag into the backseat and, because she’s always seen it done in movies and she’s always had the desire, she lifts herself over the door and into the passenger seat, not even bothering with the door. She does hit her knee on the inside of the door but all in all she feels the process was worth it. Raven kicks the car into drive and Octavia feels the awkwardness of the silence settle over them. She doesn’t know Raven and it’s impossible to start a conversation with someone she doesn’t know. Raven looks down at Octavia’s hands, which she’s using to bounce her phone back and forth. “Are you going to play music or not?” And Octavia looks up in surprise.

“Bellamy usually chooses the music,” Octavia says with a shrug, reaching for the aux, which was hanging on Octavia’s side.

“Passenger chooses the music. Number one rule of the carpool,” Raven explains, her fingertips brushing the top of Octavia’s shoulder as she threw her arm around the headrest of her seat to get a clear view of the back while she pulled out. Octavia shivers. Raven looks over at her.

“Cold?” She asks, a small smirk on her face. Octavia shakes her head.

“No, just a chill,” she mutters. It’s nearly 75. Of course she’s not cold. But there was something about the way Raven’s fingertips brushed just across her that...well. Did that. Octavia scrolls through her music, trying to decide what to play. She puts on her playlist of 80’s classics and she enjoys Raven’s singing under her breath throughout the ride.

Raven parks outside of her apartment and Octavia feels like it’s over all too soon. She gives Raven a smile. “Thanks for the ride,” she says and Raven smiles back.

“Next time don’t be so stubborn,” Raven replies and Octavia feels her cheeks flush. Quickly, she climbs out of the car.

“Aren’t you coming in?” Octavia asks and Raven shakes her head.

“Places to go, kid,” and she looks really good in the convertible, leaning back against, one hand on the wheel, smirking. “See you around,” and it’s not question - it’s a guarantee.

-

And it was. Raven hangs around a lot. She’s often on the couch when Octavia gets home from class, engaged in a game of Grand Theft Auto with Bellamy. Well, she’s usually kicking his ass at Grand Theft Auto. Octavia’s never seen him lose so many times in a row, it was actually pretty amusing. And well, winning looked good on Raven. The self-satisfied smirk she wore...suited her. And suited her well.

Bellamy is making dinner for all three of them that night, something that strangely makes Octavia’s stomach turn. He’s never made dinner for any other girl before. Maybe they really were hitting it off. She should be happy about that. She _is_ happy about that. Of course she is.

Bellamy is in the kitchen and Raven and Octavia are on the couch together. Raven is stretched out, her feet reclined on top of the arm rest. Octavia is on the other half of the sectional, one bent arm keeping her head propped up. Her tattoo is exposed and Raven reaches across and drags a finger over it. There comes that shiver again. “What’s it mean?” She asks, looking up at her through her eyelashes. Octavia bites her lip.

“My Mom. Her name was Aurora, who was the Roman goddess of dawn,” Octavia explains, her voice going soft. There’s no sadness in her voice, not anymore, just resignation.

“That’s nice,” Raven says and it’s sincere in its simplicity. Raven brings her arm up again, her fingers once again dragging over the lines of the tattoo. “Have any more?” She asks and Octavia looks over the couch at the kitchen to make sure Bellamy isn’t looking before she nods. She sits up and pulls up the front of her shirt. She watches as Raven’s eyes go wide. She’s wearing a sports bra so she has to lift that up slightly too so she can see the whole thing.

It’s a butterfly, tattooed below her breasts. Clarke had told her she was insane when she said she wanted a sternum tattoo but it looked beautiful. She just could never let Bellamy know she had it. It was, hands down, her favorite part of herself. Raven is still quite wide eyed but still, she lifts a hand and gently, so gently that Octavia wonders later if she’d imagined it, runs a finger across the wingspan of the butterfly. “And this one?” She practically whispers and Octavia can’t take her eyes off of Raven now. Her mouth has gone dry and it’s like everything front of her brain is just fog.

“Hope,” she gets out. “It’s the first thing thing I saw after my Mom died that looked truly beautiful to me,” she continues. She’s let go of her shirt and it falls down slowly. Raven is propped up on her elbows and Octavia is leaning forward. Is this? Are they?

And then Bellamy calls from the kitchen that it’s time to eat and they pull away from each other, Octavia biting her lip and Raven putting on that signature smirk of hers. Octavia waits until Raven is already in the kitchen before she sits up.

Holy shit. Was she just about to kiss her brother’s girlfriend?

-

She tries to avoid Raven after that, she really does, but Bellamy has a commitment to his fraternity and Raven is the perfect substitute. So there’s no avoiding. But she does pretend that their almost kiss never happened. Besides, who said that’s what Raven was even going for? Maybe she’d had something on her face. Or she’d grown an extra eye. Octavia would want a closer look too if it were her.

Practice runs late today and Raven still waits in the stands. Once, Octavia catches her eye and she points to her watch, a faux impatient look on her face. All Octavia can do is laugh and shrug. She’s got no control.

She’s paired with Clarke for a cool down exercise. She still looks miserable, as she has every day since she broke up with Lexa. Or since Lexa broke up with _her_. Octavia never did get the reason for the breakup out of her but it has to be bad because Lexa won’t even speak to her. She’s been screening her calls and she even gave the letterman jacket back. That’s when Clarke knew it was over. She’d been telling Octavia that it was just a short break, they’d be fine, but when she gave the jacket back, she cried. And Octavia has never seen Clarke cry.

There’s not a whole lot that she can do to help her. She’s never been through a breakup. But she does know that bad movies and ice cream is supposed to help. So after practice is over she grabs Clarke’s arm, “Are you busy tonight?” Octavia asks and Clarke shakes her head.

“I’m coming over. I’ll bring the ice cream,” Octavia says and it’s small, but Octavia notices a small smile on Clarke’s face. And then she shakes her head.

“Thanks for the offer, O but I’m going to wallow alone tonight. You should text Lincoln, he was asking me about you,” she replies. Oh. Lincoln. With all of the things that definitely did not happen with Raven, she’d kind of forgotten about him. And maybe she did need a night out and away from Raven and Bellamy. So she nods.

“Yeah, maybe I will,” she says and they finish changing in silence.

Raven is, once again, waiting outside with her arms crossed. Her face is set in a grumpy pout. “Finally,” she mutters when Octavia’s in eye sight. Octavia rolls her eyes.

“Nobody said you had to wait, Oscar. Your trashcan being renovated?” Octavia says and Raven narrows her eyes.

“Get in the car, Sesame Street,” she grumbles and Octavia laughs, knowing she’d won that one. Octavia settles into her seat and plugs in the aux. She’s in the mood for a throwback today. The song starts to play, the familiar applause at the beginning giving the song away immediately. Raven looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Really?” She asks and Octavia shrugs. The light that they had stopped it has turned green and Octavia gestures toward it.

“Just drive,” she says as the beat kicks up and the words start to play. Octavia’s head bops and she smiles to herself and she starts to sing along.

 _I want you to want me_ . _I need you to need me. I’d love you to love me._

Octavia hits the dashboard in front of her in time with the beats of the drum. Her hair fans around around her face as she moves her head to the beat. Eventually, it starts to look like she’s headbanging and she can hear the sound of Raven’s laughter coming from the driver’s seat but she doesn’t care.

Octavia turns to Raven and points to her as she mouths the lyrics to the chorus. Raven shakes her head, biting her bottom lip.

And maybe it occurs to Octavia that it’s not entirely _false_. Maybe she does. Want her to want her.

The sinking realization almost makes her stop singing but she can’t or else she’d know something was wrong. So she keeps singing.

Finally the music stops and Octavia’s brain takes a second to catch up with her heart.

She looks at Raven who still has the tiniest hint of a smile on her face and there’s butterflies in her stomach. Yeah, she does.

Shit.

-

She’s quiet the rest of the ride and when she gets back to the apartment, she texts Lincoln. They make a date for that night because she can’t have feelings for Raven. That’s her brother’s girlfriend. The only one he’s managed to keep around for more than a few weeks at a time. And more important than all of that, Raven likes Bellamy. She doesn’t like her.

So she does her best to get her out of her head. She scrubs her tattoos harder than she ought to because somehow, they still feel like Raven’s touch. She puts on, what she hopes, is a sexy outfit but it’s not easy without Clarke’s help.

She walks into the living room, to wait for Lincoln, and out of the corner of her eye, she notices a subtle drop in Raven’s jaw. Not that it meant anything but it still felt good to see. “You better get out of here before your brother sees you,” Raven says from her spot on the couch and Octavia rolls her eyes.

“Let him. He can’t control me,” she replies and she finds that she means it. He can’t. He’s her big brother, not her keeper. Raven sits up and her eyes very slowly travel the length of Octavia’s body. And there’s that goddamn chill again.

“You look good,” Raven compliments and Octavia bites down on the corner of her lip to keep herself from smiling.

“Thanks,” she replies simply. She crosses one ankle over the other, feeling awkward in front of Raven’s unwavering gaze.

Raven stands then and walks over to where Octavia is standing. Their eyes meet and Octavia feels her heartbeat go out of control. Raven lifts a hand. Slowly, she moves a strand of hair away from Octavia’s eye. “There. Hiding the best part,” she says and this time Octavia can’t stop the smile. The butterflies are back again and she wears she thinks her knees are going weak. She’s liable to fall into Raven at any moment. Or she will if she stays this close. Raven’s eyes flicker down to Octavia’s lips and because of the attention, her tongue darts out and she licks her bottom lip. Raven’s eyes flutter shut. She takes a deep breath and then she’s closer to Octavia. Oh god. This was happening. She was _letting_ it happen. She finds her own eyes closing. And she expects it. The breath against her mouth, the gentle press of Raven against her. But it never comes. Instead, Raven leans in and whispers in her ear, “Have fun tonight, fighter,” and then she pulls back.

Octavia is left to watch her walk away, jaw hung loose and heart still beating too fast.

-

Her date is okay.

Lincoln’s nice enough - he can keep a conversation going at a frat party which is something she respects but she’d rather him just shut up and dance with her.

He’s got her pressed against the wall outside of the bathroom, hands on her hips and mouth pressed against hers. She can feel that he’s hard against her leg and for some reason, it’s not turning her on. The kiss itself, well, it feels. Wrong. His lips are too rough and his hands are too big. He’s too tall and too muscular. Octavia pulls away from him. She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. You’re a great kisser but I have to go,” she says and she pats him on the cheek, something she inwardly cringes at, before ducking underneath his arm.

She walks home. It’s cold but luckily not far. Even all of the alcohol she’d consumed can’t quite keep her warm. When she finally gets back into the apartment, she’s shivering.

Raven is still sitting on the couch, wide awake. Octavia furrows her brow. “Were you waiting for me?” She asks and luckily her words aren’t slurred. At least, she thinks they aren’t. Raven shrugs.

“Couldn’t sleep. You’re just a bonus,” she says with a smirk and there’s something like frustration bubbling up in her stomach.

“Do you do anything besides smirk?” Octavia fires and Raven’s eyebrows raise.

“Occasionally I frown,” Raven replies, still joking and Octavia’s fists clench. She feels her jaw tighten and she can’t hide the anger on her face. She shakes her head.

“I’m going to bed,” she says and she’s nearly to the doorway of the hallway before Raven’s stopped her.

“What’s your problem?” Raven asks, finally catching onto the fact that Octavia was, in fact, not happy with her. Octavia throws her hands up.

“You don’t take anything seriously. You don’t take me seriously. How am I supposed to know that you take my brother seriously?” She shoots off and it’s bullshit but she’s drunk and her lips are loose and it’s better she come up with a bad lie than tell the truth. Raven shakes her head.

“Fuck off,” she says, starting to turn around and Octavia huffs.

“What, can’t face it?” Octavia says and now she’s just provoking her. She sees Raven pause and then she turns back around. It feels like time starts to move in slow motion as she comes toward her. And keeps coming until she has Octavia pushed up against a wall. Octavia gulps. This is not where she expected this to go.

“You wanna know what I think, kid?” Raven says and Octavia can’t really do anything but nod. “I think you don’t give a shit about your brother,” there’s a hand on her thigh, squeezing. Octavia’s pupils are blown wide and she can see that Raven’s are too. “I think you want to know that _I_ give a shit about you,” Raven continues and the hand is sliding up and Raven raises an eyebrow. It’s a question. One that Octavia nods an acceptance to. “Because you give a shit about me,” and further up still. It’s just below the outside of her underwear now and she can feel how wet she is. She knows that if Raven’s hand goes any further, she will too. Raven bites her lip as two of her fingers drag against Octavia’s underwear. There’s light pressure against her clit and Octavia can’t help but let out a breathy moan. Raven bites her lip and still she smirks. “Thought so,” she finishes, pulling her hand from between Octavia’s thighs. “Goodnight, kid,” she says, waving the two fingers that had just been pressed against Octavia as she walks into the hallway.

Octavia doesn’t know how long she stands there, trying to calm her breathing.

But the first thing she does when she gets into her bedroom is finish what Raven started.

And when she comes against her own hand, she pretends it’s Raven’s.

It dawns on her as she’s halfway between sleep and lucidity that Raven has her bending over backwards and she’d keep doing it if Raven kept touching her like that.


End file.
